DRAFT The 4th East Asia & South East Asia Conference on Philosophy of Science (ILIM , 5-6 Nov.

2014) (Copyright)

On Islamic Cosmological Principles

Shahidan Radiman

School of Applied Physics

Faculty of Science and Technology , UKM Bangi 43600 , Selangor DE, Malaysia

Abstract

Islamic cosmological principles were formulated much later after the third century of the
Muslim calendar. It started with Al-Kindi (801-873 AD) , Al Farabi (872-950 AD), Ibn Sina
(980-1037 AD) and Ibn Rushd (1126-1198 AD) who favoured Greek thoughts and ideas.
Major contributions by Kalam cosmologists (e.g Al Maturidi (853-944 AD) and Abu Hasan
Al-Asha’ri ( 874-936 AD) were due to their effort in combating Muktazilite views which goes
against the orthodox view of the ulama who during those times were mainly engaged in
hadith collections . Later , the science of Sufism contributed to Islamic cosmological
principles firmer on the ground of epistemology with major contributions by Abu Bakar
Wasiti (d.932 AD) , Al-Ghazali (1058-1111 AD) , Suhrawardi Maqtul (1155-1191) , Ibn Arabi
(1165-1240 AD) and others . This paper firstly provide a brief review of the historical
development of the cosmological doctrines , emphasizing the entertwining role of both the
physical and spiritual cosmologies and secondly providing a view of how later Sufism
enhanced the Islamic cosmology into one that might answer some of the modern quantum
cosmologists and philosophers’ enquiries into the why and how the Universe might came
into existence together with the macrocosmos -microcosmos duality.

Introduction

Is it well accepted that major mystics of all religion express their ideas and inspirations via
any or all of the 3 dimensions – cosmic , oneiric and poetic. The idea of letters (huruf) as the
stuff of cosmology can be found in many spiritual traditions –ancient Greeks , the Gnostics ,
Ismaili and twelve Imam Shiite , some Sufi tareqah ( mainly from Ibn Arabi and some from
Suhrawardi Maqtul and Ahmad Sabuni ) and even Kabbalist thoughts. The first Quran
revealation “Read !” and Allah’s command “Be” ! seems to point to the importance of
letters and words . The Pen , Tablet and Universal Intellect which are the first creation
(before human beings) all points to the same symbolism of letters and texts, so that both in
Ibn Arabi and Ahmad Ahsai the process of emanation (creation) are symbolised by the letter
Ba spreading out from Alif of the Universal Intellect . When Allah created Adam the first
thing that He taught him is His Names ( Quran 2:31 ). It is therefore thought that the
earliest cosmology in Islam started with the four (see below).

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 4 commands Level of Beings Angels in command Muqotaat Letters

Divine will Hahut Jibrail Alif

Universal Intellect Jabarut Israfil Lam

(aqal kulli)

Universal Soul Malakut Izrail Mim

(ruh kulli)

Universal Matter Nasut Mikhail Ra , Shad

(jism kulli)

Later in this paper we will discuss how Sufi cosmology is centred on the 4 levels of Tawhid
(Oneness) which is the OneNess in His Actions, His Attributes, His Names and His Essence. It
is interesting that the cosmology of letters in Islam are connected also with the Lote-tree of
the highest level (Sidrah al-Muntaha) which in the Celtic culture was called “deru” (tree) so
that “Druid” means “knower of the tree”. In ancient Zoroastrian text , the Saena tree stood
in the midst of the cosmic Lake Vourukasha which is said to be the source of all seeds. From
the Saena birds (that lived on this tree) we have “Simurgh” ( contraction of “saena meregh”)
the birds that represent human souls in the writings of Suhrawardi Maqtul and Fariduddin
Attar. According to one Naqshabandi tareqah website “The moon possesses nothing of the
light of the sun by itself; it only reflects at best. The main power belongs to the sun.
Similarly, God has placed and organized in every orbit of the heavens, skies, galaxies,
planets, and Paradises a creation differing from one orbit to another. They act like mirrors
that reflect the light of the angels from the divine presence. These celestial phenomena
extend that angelic light, mirror-like, for the benefit of human beings and other
creations. That light is "made subject" (musakhkhara) to whatever is needed by creation.
That light is the source of the angelic power, the very angelic power itself. Indeed, it is the
substance of goodness and benefits every place of creation.”

In premodern Islam , cosmological thought was cultivated mainly through at least two major
intellectual traditions namely philosophy and Sufism. The least involvement of ulama ahl
hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w) and mufassirun (exegete of Quran) regarding
the cosmological content of the two main source of Islamic scholarship was due to the small
number of hadith and verses of the Quran dealing with cosmology – even the existing ones
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refer to cycles of days and years (referring to the sun and moon cycles) and the sky adorned
by the stars. The existence of galaxies , constellation and zodiac were studied much later
with the advent of observatories (by al Biruni , al-Khwarizmi and others) . There are verses in
the Quran referring to the Throne of Allah (Arsy) and the Lote Tree of the Far-Limit (sidrah
al-Muntaha) as well as the Footstool (Kursy) but these are metaphysical . If we divide the
Universe into the following way (as later classified by Sufis) then we will see why cosmology
is considered to be a difficult subject to study : nasut ( physical universe), malakut (dominion
of angels including Bait al-Makmur) , jabarut ( dominion of Lauh Mahfuz ( the Tablet), Sidrah
al-Muntaha (Lote tree), Throne (Arsy) , Footstool (Kursy) ), Lahut (angels that carry the
throne and Muqorrabun – the near ones) and Hahut ( where Muhammad s.a.w stop to see
his Lord in Mustawa during his Mikraj – journey to see the Lord of Power). It must be
stressed that the except for the first two dominion , the rest are not contained in space and
time , and especially Hahut ( the dominion of He-ness) is only a meeting place between
Muhammad s.a.w and God but does not signify any time and space . The difficulty and the
uncharted knowledge on these early notion of cosmology led to the early studies by Muslim
philosophers and some theologian to use knowledge from the Greeks . In fact as we have
seen Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina and Al-Kindi have used Greek ideas and expand them for
understanding the universe and its content (laws , motions , constellations etc). Later, we
will confirm that the raison d’etre for Islamic cosmology is Tawhid , the Oneness of God , so
that by understanding His Creation and Action we believe in His Unique Existence .

From al-Kindi to Ibn Arabi : Metaphysics of Islamic cosmology

To provide a historical flow we will briefly go through the stage of history

Name Introduction Brief contributions

Al Kindi ,801-873 AD Abu Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-
Kindī, known as "the Philosopher of the
Arabs", was an Iraqi Muslim Arab
philosopher, polymath, mathematician,
physician and musician
Al Kindi and Al Farabi developed
the idea of grades and levels of
intellect from the potential to the
Active Intellect. This fundamental
doctrine which was known and
much debated in the medieval
West received its fullest
elaboration in the hands of Ibn
Sina

Al Farabi ,872-950 Al-Farabi, known in the West as

Alpharabius, was a renowned scientist and
philosopher of the Islamic Golden Age. He
was also a cosmologist, logician, and
musician, representing the multidisciplinary
approach of muslim scientists.

Ibn Sina ,980-1037 Ibn Sina was a Persian polymath who is Ibn Sina wrote an attack on
regarded as one of the most significant astrology titled Risala fī ibṭāl aḥkām
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AD thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden
Age. Of the 450 works he is known to have
written, around 240 have survived,
including 150 on philosophy and 40 on
medicine.
al-nujūm, in which he cited
passages from the Quran to dispute
the power of astrology to foretell the
future.He believed that each planet
had some influence on the earth,
but argued against astrologers
being able to determine the exact
effects.

The philosophy of Ibn Sina

although attacked by Ashaarite
theologian as al-Ghazali and
Fakhrudin al-Razi received
renewed support from Nasir-al Din
Tusi in 13th C.

In his Mantiq al-mashriqiyyin (logics

of the Orientals) he wrote of that
wisdom which was once
illuminative and oriental and which
was to receive its fullest elaboration
in the 12th C by the Master of the
school of Illumination , Shihab al-
Din Suhrawardi.

Ibn Rushd ,1126- His full name ʾAbū l-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn Ibn Rushd was a defender of
ʾAḥmad Ibn Rušd, a mediæval Andalusian Aristotelian philosophy
1198 AD Muslim polymath against Ash’ari theologians led
by Al-Ghazali. Although highly
regarded as a legal scholar of
the Maliki school of Islamic law, Ibn
Rushd’s philosophical ideas were
considered controversial in Muslim
circles. He had a greater impact on
Christian Europe: he has been
described as the “founding father of
secular thought in Western Europe
and was known by the
sobriquet the Commentator for his
detailed emendations to Aristotle.
Latin translations of Averroes’s
work led the way to the
popularization of Aristotle and were
responsible for the development
of scholasticism in medieval Europe

Al Ghazali ,1058- Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn

Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (1058–1111),
1111
known as Al-Ghazali or Algazel to the
Western medieval world, was a Muslim
theologian, jurist, philosopher
and mystic of Persian descent.

Al-Ghazali has sometimes been

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 referred to by historians as the single
most influential Muslim after the Islamic
prophet Muhammad. Within Islam he is
considered to be a Mujaddid or
renewer of the faith, who according to
tradition, appears once every century
to restore the faith of the community.
His works were so highly acclaimed by
his contemporaries that al-Ghazali was
awarded the honorific title "Proof of
Islam" (Hujjat al-Islam).
Fakhr al Din al- He is to be considered to be the
Razi,1149- reviver of Islam in the 12th C as al-
Ghazali was in the 11th C. He
considered Kalam to be the Queen
of the sciences and subordinated all
other rational sciences like
philosophy , mathematics and
natural sciences.
Suhrawardi Maqtul , "Shahāb ad-Dīn" Yahya ibn Habash as-
Suhrawardī was a Persian philosopher,
1155-1191 a Sufi and founder of Illuminationism, an
important school in Islamic mysticism that
drewupon Zoroastrian and Platonic ideas.
The "light" in his "Philosophy of
Illumination" is a divine and metaphysical
source of knowledge. He is sometimes
given the honorific title Shaikh al-
He is famous as a Kalam
theologian but his influenced
on later Islamic cosmologists
via his combination of
theology and ethics (in Asrar
al-Tanzil) and theology and
Sufism (in Lawami’ al Bayyinat)
and his commentary on
Zamakhshari ‘s Kitab al-sirr al-
maktum on astrology and
astronomy. In the ta’wil of the
Quran he followed the
method of his teacher , Imam
al-Haramayn Al-Juwayni. In
the Mabahith he rejected the
Platonic ideas since in the
Ashaarite perspective all
higher modes of Being are
absorbed in the Absolute. He
played an important role in
bringing theology closer to the
sciences .
Suhrawardi taught a complex and
profound emanationist cosmology,
in which all creation is a successive
outflow from the original Supreme
Light of Lights (Nur al-Anwar). The
fundamental of his philosophy is
pure immaterial light, than which
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 ʿIshraq "Master of Illumination" and
sometimes is called Shaikh al-
Maqtul "the Murdered Master", referring
to his execution for heresy.
Ibn Arabi ,1165-1240 Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn
Muḥammad ibn al-ʿArabī al-Ḥātimī aṭ-Ṭāʾī
was an Arab Andalusian Sufi mystic and
philosopher. He is renowned by some
practitioners of Sufism as "the greatest
master" and also as a genuine saint
Mir Damad , d. 1631 Mir Damad known also as Mir
Mohammad Baqir Asterabadi, or
Asterabadi, was an Iranian philosopher in
the Neoplatonizing Islamic Peripatetic
traditions of Avicenna and Suhrawardi, a
scholar of the traditional Islamic sciences,
and foremost figure (together with his
student Mulla Sadra), of the cultural
renaissance of Iran undertaken under
the Safavid dynasty. As such he was the
nothing is more manifest, that
unfolds from the Light of Lights in a
descending order of ever-
diminishing intensity and, through
complex interaction, gives rise to a
"horizontal" array of lights, similar in
conception to Platonic forms, that
governs the species of mundane
reality. In other words, the universe
and all levels of existence are but
varying degrees of Light—the light
and the darkness. In his division of
bodies, he categorizes objects in
terms of their reception or non-
reception of light.
Suhrawardi elaborated the neo-
Platonic idea of an independent
intermediary world, the imaginal
world (ʿalam-i mithal) . His views
have exerted a powerful influence
down to this day, particularly
through Mulla Sadra’s combined
peripatetic and illuminationist
description of reality.
Major commentaries on his Hayakil
Al Nur was made by Jalal al Din
Dawani in the 15th C and Abd al-
Razzaq al-Lahiji in the 17th C.
He is noted with the notion of
eternal creation , huduth-i-dahri. It
is well known that the question
whether the Universe is created
(hadith) or eternal (qadim) has
been one of the major points of
dispute between the philosophers
and theologians in both islam and
Christianity as well as among the
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 central founder of the School of Isfahan,
noted by his students and admirers as
the Third Teacher (mu'alim al-thalith)
after Aristotle and al-Farabi.
Greeks. Mir damad seeks a
solution to this question by
dividing reality into 3 categories :
zamani ( or time) , dahr and
sarmad – the two latter are kinds
of eternity. This division is
ontological and not just
theoretical or logical.

Al Kindi

The Italian Renaissance scholar Geralomo Cardano (1501–1575) considered him one of the
twelve greatest minds of the Middle Ages. According to Ibn al-Nadim, al-Kindi wrote at least
two hundred and sixty books, contributing heavily to geometry (thirty-two books), medicine
and philosophy (twenty-two books each), logic (nine books), and physics (twelve books). His
philosophy also influenced the Nobel Prize winner Abdus Salam who wrote some articles
about his philosophy and metaphysics. According to al-Kindi, the goal of metaphysics is the
knowledge of God. For this reason, he does not make a clear distinction between philosophy
and theology, because he believes they are both concerned with the same subject. Later
philosophers, particularly al-Farabi and Avicenna, would strongly disagree with him on this
issue, by saying that metaphysics is actually concerned with being qua being, and as such,
the nature of God is purely incidental. In addition to absolute oneness, al-Kindi also
described God as the Creator. This means that He acts as both a final and efficient cause.
Unlike later Muslim Neo-Platonic philosophers (who asserted that the universe existed as a
result of God's existence "overflowing", which is a passive act), al-Kindi conceived of God as
an active agent. In fact, of God as the agent, because all other intermediary agencies are
contingent upon Him. The key idea here is that God "acts" through created intermediaries,
which in turn "act" on one another – through a chain of cause and effect – to produce the
desired result. In reality, these intermediary agents do not "act" at all, they are merely a
conduit for God's own action. This is especially significant in the development of Islamic
philosophy, as it portrayed the "first cause" and "unmoved mover" of Aristotelian
philosophy as compatible with the concept of God according to Islamic revelation. Al-Kindi
theorized that there was a separate, incorporeal and universal intellect (known as the "First
Intellect" - Aqal al-Awwal ). It was the first of God's creation and the intermediary through
which all other things came into creation. Aside from its obvious metaphysical importance,
it was also crucial to al-Kindi's epistemology, which was influenced by Platonic realism (see:
Wikipaedia).

Al Farabi
Al-Farabi's cosmology is essentially based upon three pillars: Aristotelian metaphysics of
causation, highly developed Plotinian emanational cosmology and the physical Ptolemaic

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astronomy. In his model, the universe is viewed as a number of concentric circles; the
outermost sphere or "first heaven", the sphere of fixed stars, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun,
Venus, Mercury and finally, the Moon. At the centre of these concentric circles is the sub-
lunar realm which contains the material world. Each of these circles represent the domain
of the secondary intelligences (symbolized by the celestial bodies themselves), which act as
causal intermediaries between the First Cause (in this case, God) and the material world.
Furthermore these are said to have emanated from God, who is both their formal and
efficient cause.The process of emanation begins (metaphysically, not temporally) with the
First Cause, whose principal activity is self-contemplation. And it is this intellectual activity
that underlies its role in the creation of the universe. The First Cause, by thinking of itself,
"overflows" and the incorporeal entity of the second intellect "emanates" from it. Like its
predecessor, the second intellect also thinks about itself, and thereby brings its celestial
sphere (in this case, the sphere of fixed stars) into being, but in addition to this it must also
contemplate upon the First Cause, and this causes the "emanation" of the next intellect. The
cascade of emanation continues until it reaches the tenth intellect, beneath which is the
material world. And as each intellect must contemplate both itself and an increasing
number of predecessors, each succeeding level of existence becomes more and more
complex. It should be noted that this process is based upon necessity as opposed to will. In
other words, God does not have a choice whether or not to create the universe, but by
virtue of His own existence, He causes it to be. This view also suggests that the universe is
eternal, and both of these points were criticized by al-Ghazzali in his attack on the
philosophers .(See: Wikipaedia).
In his discussion of the First Cause (or God), al-Farabi relies heavily on negative theology. He
says that it cannot be known by intellectual means, such as dialectical division or definition,
because the terms used in these processes to define a thing constitute its substance.
Therefore if one was to define the First Cause, each of the terms used would actually
constitute apart of its substance and therefore behave as a cause for its existence, which is
impossible as the First Cause is uncaused; it exists without being caused. Equally, he says it
cannot be known according to genus and differentia, as its substance and existence are
different from all others, and therefore it has no category to which it belongs. If this were
the case, then it would not be the First Cause, because something would be prior in
existence to it, which is also impossible. This would suggest that the more philosophically
simple a thing is, the more perfect it is. And based on this observation, Adamson says it is
possible to see the entire hierarchy of al-Farabi's cosmology according to classification into
genus and species. Each succeeding level in this structure has as its principal qualities
multiplicity and deficiency, and it is this ever-increasing complexity that typifies the material
world. This idea of gradation of being was later used and elaborated by Mulla Sadra .

Al- Maturidi (853-944 AD)

When al-Maturidi was growing up there was an emerging reaction[ against some schools
within Islam, notably Mu'tazilis,Qarmati, and Shi'a. The Sunni scholars were following Abu
Hanifa. Al-Maturidi, with other two preeminent scholars,wrote especially on the creed of

8
Islam and elaborated Abu Hanifa's doctrine, the other two being Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari in
Iraq and Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tahawi in Egypt.

While Al-Ash'ari and Al-Tahawi were Sunni together with Al-Maturidi, they constructed their
own theologies diverging slightly from Abu Hanifa's school. Al-Ash'ari, enunciated that God
creates the individual's power (qudra), will, and the actual act[ giving way to a fatalist school
of theology, which was later put in a consolidated form by Al Ghazali. Al Maturidi, followed
in Abu Hanifa's footsteps, and presented the "notion that God was the creator of man’s
acts, although man possessed his own capacity and will to act". Al Maturidi and Al-
Ash'ari also separated from each other in the issue of the attributes of God, as well as some
other minor issues.

Later, with the impact of Persianate states such as Great Seljuq Empire and Ottoman
Empire, Hanafi-Maturidi school spread to greater areas where the Hanafi school of law is
prevalent, such as Afghanistan , Central Asia, South Asia, Balkan, Russia, China , Caucasus
and Turkey.

Al Asha’ri (874-936)

After leaving the Mu'tazili school, al-Ash'ari formulated the theology of Sunni Islam. He was
followed in this by a large number of distinguished scholars, most of whom belonged to
the Shafi'i school of lawThe most famous of these are Abul-Hassan Al-Bahili, Abu Bakr Al-
Baqillani, al-Juwayni, Al-Razi and Al-Ghazali. Thus Al-Ash'ari’s school became, together with
the Maturidi, the main schools reflecting the beliefs of the Sunnah.In line with Sunni
tradition, al-Ash'ari held the view that a Muslim should not be considered an unbeliever on
account of a sin even if it were an enormity such as drinking wine of theft. This opposed the
position held by the Khawarij. Al-Ash'ari also believed it impermissible to violently oppose a
leader even if he were openly disobedient to the commands of the sacred law.

Al-Ash'ari spent much of his works opposing the views of the Mu'tazili school. In particular,
he rebutted them for believing that the Qur'an was created and that deeds are done by
people of their own accord. He also rebutted the Mu'tazili school for denying that Allah can
hear, see and has speech. Al-Ash’ari confirmed all these attributes stating that they differ
from the hearing, seeing and speech of creatures, including man.

The Ashari scholar Ibn Furak numbers Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari's works at 300, and the
biographer Ibn Khallikan at 55; Ibn Asākir gives the titles of 93 of them, but only a handful
of these works, in the fields of heresiography and theology had survived. The three main
ones are:

(i) Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn, it comprises not only an account of the Islamic sects but also
an examination of problems in kalām, or scholastic theology, and the Names and
Attributes of Allah; the greater part of this works seems to have been completed
before his conversion from the Mutaziltes.
(ii) Kitāb al-luma

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 (iii) Kitāb al-ibāna 'an usūl al-diyāna a supposed exposition of his developed theological
views and arguments against Mutazilite doctrines where he recanted his previous
beliefs.

There are several verses in the Qur'an which some medieval and modern writers have
interpreted as foreshadowing modern cosmological theories. An early example of this
can be seen in the work of the Islamic theologian Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209), in
dealing with his conception of physics and the physical world in his Matalib Al Aliyah. He
discusses Islamic cosmology, criticizes the idea of the Earth's centrality within the
universe, and explores "the notion of the existence of a multiverse in the context of his
commentary" on the Qur'anic verse, "All praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds." He
raises the question of whether the term "worlds" in this verse refers to
"multiple worlds within this single universe or cosmos, or to many other universes or a
multiverse beyond this known universe."He rejects the Aristotelian view of a single
world or universe in favour of the existence of multiple worlds and universes, a view
that he believed to be supported by the Qur'an and by the Ash'ari theory of atomism . In
fact the existence of dark matter and dark energy is consistent with the renewed
creation of the Universe (occasionalisme proposed by the Kalam cosmologists or
Mutakallimun) for these unknown matter drives the expansion of the Universe and
continuous creation of matter (galaxies etc) until possibly the occurrence of Big Crunch.

Al Ghazali

Al-Ghazali has sometimes been referred to by historians as the single most

influential Muslim after the Islamic prophet Muhammad (s.a.w). This was because his works
transcends philosophy , theology and Sufism. Many modern researchers believe that his Sufi
school is basically Ishraqi. In fact the Alawiyah branch of Sufism (mainly in Hadramawt ,
Yemen) made his teaching and Shadzili tareqah as their reference. His works were so highly
acclaimed by his contemporaries that al-Ghazali was awarded the honorific title "Proof of
Islam" (Hujjat al-Islam).[Others have cited his opposition to certain strands of Islamic
philosophy as a detriment to Islamic scientific progress. Besides his work that successfully
changed the course of Islamic philosophy—the early Islamic Neoplatonism that developed
on the grounds of Hellenistic philosophy, for example, was so successfully criticised by al-
Ghazali that it never recovered—he also brought the orthodox Islam of his time in close
contact with Sufism. It became increasingly possible for individuals to combine orthodox
theology (kalam) and Sufism, while adherents of both camps developed a sense of mutual
appreciation that made sweeping condemnation of one by the other increasingly
problematic. In al-Ghazali's major works , Ihya' Ulum al-Din or Ihya'u Ulumiddin (The
Revival of Religious Sciences)he covered almost all fields of Islamic sciences: fiqh
(Islamic jurisprudence), kalam and sufism. The Ihya’ became the most frequently recited
Islamic text after the Qur'an and the hadith. It's great achievement was to bring orthodox
Sunni theology and Sufi mysticism together in a useful, comprehensive guide to every
aspect of Muslim life and death. The book was well received by Islamic scholars such an-
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Nawawi who stated that: "Were the books of Islam all to be lost, excepting only the Ihya', it
would suffice to replace them all”. The basis of his Ishraqi cosmology was highlighted in his
work on the Tafsir of verse 35 of Surah An Nur (The Light) .........these were elaborated in his
writings on Sufism namely Mizan al-'amal (Criterion of Action) , Ihya' ulum al-din (Revival of
Religious Sciences) , Bidayat al-hidayah (Beginning of Guidance) Kimiya-yi sa'ādat (The
Alchemy of Happiness) [a résumé of Ihya'ul ulum, in Persian], Nasihat al-muluk (Counseling
Kings) [in Persian], al-Munqidh min al-dalal (Rescuer from Error) and Minhaj al-
'Abidin (Methodology for the Worshipers). He corroborate his Ishraqi views in Maqasid al
falasifa (Aims of Philosophers) [written in the beginning of his life, in favour of philosophy
and presenting the basic theories in Philosophy, mostly influenced by Avicenna's works],
Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers), [in this book he refutes the Greek
Philosophy aiming at Avicenna and Al-Farabi; and of which Ibn Rushd retaliate by writing his
famous refutation Tahafut al-tahafut (The Incoherence of the Incoherence)], Miyar al-Ilm fi
fan al-Mantiq (Criterion of Knowledge in the Art of Logic), Mihak al-Nazar fi al-
mantiq (Touchstone of Reasoning in Logic) and al-Qistas al-mustaqim (The Correct Balance).

Al-Ghazali in The Incoherence of the Philosophers, defends the Ash'ari doctrine of a created
universe that is temporally finite, against the Aristotelian doctrine of an eternal universe. In
doing so, he proposed the modal theory of possible worlds, arguing that their actual world
is the best of all possible worlds from among all the alternate timelines and world
histories that God could have possibly created. Thus , working on the right topology of the
Universe and a correct quantum mechanical interpretation (say Consistent Histories or De
Broglie-Bohm) it might be possible to connect this proposal with the Anthropic Principle of
Modern cosmology.

Mir Damad (d. 1631 AD)

Syed Hossein Nasr (1996 ) described Mir Damad work as follows: The Divine Essence or
ipseity is above all distinctions and qualities , yet it is also the source of the Divine Names
and Attributes which are both one with the essence and yet distinct from it. This immutable
relation between the Essence and the Attributes which cannot be changed from either side ,
the Attributes being a necessary determination ( ta’ayun) of the Essence to Itself by Itself ,
Mir Damad called sarmad. It is an eternity in the absolute sense , above all contingencies.
The Names and Attributes which are the principles of the archetypes or Platonic ideas or
Lord of the species (rabb al-naw’) as the Ishraqis call them , in turn generate the world of
change. They are the immutable intelligence in this world and each species in this world is a
theurgy for its archetype. The relation between the immutable archetypes and the world of
change is like the reflection of the moon in a stream of water in which the image of the
moon remains unchanged while the substance in which it is reflected i.e water , flows on
continually. This relation between the immutable and the changing , Mir Damad called dahr.
Finally , the relation between one change and another is called time (zaman) in the sense of
quantity and measure of change as Aristotle had already described it. Since this world was
brought into being through the intermediate world of the archetypes , its creation is dahri
11
not zamani i.e the world was not created in a time which existed before the world came
into being but with respect to a dahr which stands above the world. The creation of this
world is therefore huduth-i-dahri , ibda’ and ikhtira’ and not huduth –i-zamani , wad and
takwin. Time has a reality in its own plane of being but in the world of dahr , the world of
the archetypes , time does not even exist. Moreover , the changing physical world depends
for its existence upon non-existence (‘adam) in the world of the archetypes. While it exist in
time (zaman) it is non-existent in dahr and has no share in the angelic mode of being ,
proper to the world of dahrf , of which it is not more than a coagulation. Likewise , the
world of dahr , of the architypes , is non-existent in the Divine Essence (in the world of
sarmad). In the Divine Essence , there is noeither dahr or zaman , neither archytype nor
body ; God is alone in His Majesty.

The Jadhawat is one of the works in which Mir Damad presents the complete cycle of his
metaphysical ideas combined with the Quranic text , the hadith and his own other works.In
the first jadhwah ,he divides the Book of Divine Existence , of the chain of beings into two
parts , one in which there is an effusion or theophany (tajalli) away from the Divine Essence
and in the other in which thereis a return to the origin : the first extending from the Divine
essence to prime matter of hyle and the other from the hyle back to the origin of all
existence. Moreover , each chain is divided into a longitudinal (tuli) and a latitudinal (‘ardi)
order. The longitudinal order of the chain of effusion includes five essenrtial degrees :

(i) The degree of pure intelligences, the victorial lights (anwar-i-qahirah) the first
member of which is the Universal Intellect (aql-i-kull) i.e the first light to issue forth
from the Lights of light (nur al-anwar)
(ii) The degree of heavenly souls (nufus-i-falakiyyah) , the governing lights (anwar-i-
mudabbirah) , the first member of which governing the first heaven i called the
universal soul (nafs-i-kull)
(iii) The degree of the natural soul (nufus –i-muntabiah) and the archetypes of the
heavens , the planets , the four natures , the elements and compounds. (It is
interesting to mention that all naturally occurring elements are synthesised in the
stars ( from hydrogen to iron) , whereas higher elements are synthesised in
supernovae).
(iv) The degree of bodily forms (syrat-i-jasmiyyah) i.e the Aristotlean form which is an
extended substance and is of one species.
(v) The degree of hyle , from the matter of the highest heaven to that of the world of
generation and corruption.

As for the latitudinal order of the chain olf return to the Divine essence , it too have five
stages :

(i) The degree of the absolute body (jism-i-mutlaq) and the bodies comprising the
elements and the heavens
(ii) The degree of composed bodies which come into being from the combination of the
elements and have a species of their own e.g minerals

12
(iii) The degree of plants possessing the vegetative soul
(iv) The degree of animal possessing the animal soul
(v) The degree of men possessing the rational soul which is of the same substanceas the
intelligences of the descending chain , above both of which there is nothing but the
Truth (haqq) itself.

According to Mir Damad , the world of intelligences (mujarradat) is called the world of the
invisible (ghayb) or command (amr) or malakut or intellect ( aql) or life (hayat) or nur (light)
while the world of bodies is called the world of creation (khalq) , visible (syahadah) or
dominion (mulk) or darkness (zulumat). Man’s nature is composed of these two worlds in
such a way thah he contains the whole world in himself ; he is the microcosm as the world is
the macrocosm. On the other hand , the macrocosm and the microcosm together , is rthe
Book fo God (al-Quran) , in which each being is a word or rather a letter. These words and
letters are written by the Divine Pen ( Qalam) which symbolised the Intellect. The Pen
writes the truth of things upon the huma soul which is called the ispahbadi light (nur-i-
ispahbadi). The heavens of the fixed stars is the meeting place of the corporeal and the
intellectual lights , the boundary between formal and formless manifestations. This heaven
has its own soul and intelligence but in addition , each star in it is also a possessor of an
intelligence and a soul proper to itself. As for the other heavens , they also have their
general intelligence and soul as well as particular intelligences and souls all of which cast
their illumination upon the sublunary region. The intelligence of the heaven of the sun is
Gabriel . ( This connects Mir Damad’s cosmology with angelology- it also reminds us about
such writings as “The Intelligent Universe” – showing it self-organised criticality and ordered
stellar structures e.g Main Sequence stars and so on ). Mir damad also connect his ideas
with Sufism for according to him ( following Syed Hossein Nasr’s account) :

Between the world of intelligence and the physical world there is an intermediary world ,
the so-called eight climate which Mir Damad following the ancient Ishraqi sages called
hurqalya. In order to cross this intermediary world and make the return journey through the
ascending chain , man must become familiar with the Divine Names ,especially the Great
name (ism –al Azam) which contains all the others. The inner constitution of man forms a
bridge between the worlds of time and eternity , the sensible and the intelligible. Man
possesses four degrees of perception : sensation (ihsas) , imagination (takhayyul) ,
apprehension (tawahhum) and intellection (ta’aqqul) , the degrees that which stretch
between the visible world and the invisible world.
Physical Cosmology
Cosmology was studied extensively in the Muslim world during what is known as the Islamic
Golden Age from the 7th to 15th centuries. There are exactly seven verses in the Quran that
specify that there are seven heavens. One verse says that each heaven or sky has its own
order, possibly meaning laws of nature. Another verse says after mentioning the seven
heavens "and similar earths".
In 850, al-Farghani wrote Kitab fi Jawani ("A compendium of the science of stars"). The book
primarily gave a summary of Ptolemic cosmography. However, it also

13
corrected Ptolemy's Almagest based on findings of earlier Iranian astronomers. Al-Farghani
gave revised values for the obliquity of the ecliptic, the precessional movement of
the apogees of the sun and the moon, and the circumference of the earth. The books were
widely circulated through the Muslim world, and even translated into Latin. The Arabian
astronomer Alhazen (965–1037) made the first attempt at observing and measuring
the Milky Way's parallax and he thus "determined that because the Milky Way had no
parallax, it was very remote from the earth and did not belong to the
atmosphere." The Persian astronomer Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī (973–1048) proposed the Milky
Way galaxy to be "a collection of countless fragments of the nature of nebulous
stars." The Andalusian astronomer Ibn Bajjah ("Avempace", d. 1138) proposed that the
Milky Way was made up of many stars which almost touched one another and appeared to
be a continuous image due to the effect of refraction from sublunary material, citing his
observation of the conjunction of Jupiter and Mars on 500 AH (1106/1107 AD) as
evidence. Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292–1350) proposed the Milky Way galaxy to be "a
myriad of tiny stars packed together in the sphere of the fixed stars".
In the 10th century, the Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (known in the West
as Azophi) made the earliest recorded observation of the Andromeda Galaxy, describing it as
a "small cloud". Al-Sufi also identified the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is visible
from Yemen, though not from Isfahan; it was not seen by Europeans until Magellan's voyage
in the 16th century. These were the first galaxies other than the Milky Way to be observed
from Earth. Al-Sufi published his findings in his Book of Fixed Stars in 964.
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209), in dealing with his conception of physics and the physical
world in his Matalib al-'Aliya, criticizes the idea of the Earth's centrality within the universe
and "explores the notion of the existence of amultiverse in the context of his commentary"
on the Qur'anic verse, "All praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds." He raises the
question of whether the term "worlds" in this verse refers to "multiple worlds within this
single universe or cosmos, or to many other universes or a multiverse beyond this known
universe." In volume 4 of the Matalib, Al-Razi states:
It is established by evidence that there exists beyond the world a void without a terminal
limit (khala' la nihayata laha), and it is established as well by evidence that God Most High
has power over all contingent beings (al-mumkinat). Therefore He the Most High has the
power (qadir) to create a thousand thousand worlds (alfa alfi 'awalim) beyond this world
such that each one of those worlds be bigger and more massive than this world as well as
having the like of what this world has of the throne (al-arsh), the chair (al-kursiyy), the
heavens (al-samawat) and the earth (al-ard), and the sun (al-shams) and the moon (al-
qamar). The arguments of the philosophers (dala'il al-falasifah) for establishing that the
world is one are weak, flimsy arguments founded upon feeble premises.
Al-Razi rejected the Aristotelian and Avicennian notions of a single universe revolving
around a single world. He describes the main arguments against the existence of multiple
worlds or universes, pointing out their weaknesses and refuting them. This rejection arose
from his affirmation of atomism, as advocated by the Ash'ari school of Islamic theology,
which entails the existence of vacant space in which the atoms move, combine and
separate. He discussed in greater detail the void, the empty space between stars and
14
constellations in the Universe, in volume 5 of the Matalib. He argued that there exists an
infinite outer space beyond the known world and that God has the power to fill
the vacuum with an infinite number of universes.
Sufi Cosmology
Sufi cosmology is a general term for cosmological doctrines associated with the mysticism
of Sufism. These may differ from place to place, order to order and time to time, but overall
it showed the influence of several different cosmographies namely : (i) The Quran's
testament concerning God and immaterial beings, the soul and the afterlife, the beginning
and end of existence, the seven heavens etc, (ii) The Neoplatonic views cherished by Islamic
philosophers like Ibn Sina and Al Farabi (iii) The Hermetic-Ptolemaic spherical geocentric
world (iv) The Ishraqi visionary universe as expounded by Suhrawardi Maqtul as well as by
other Sufis notably Ibn Arabi.
The following Sufi cosmological plane, explaining a creation by successive emanation of
worlds which was thought to be have rudimentary ideas from Plotinus but later was
confirmed by Quran and hadith divide the Universe into the following realms or dominions :

(i)Alam-i-Hahut (Realm of He-ness) –Disclosure of His Essence (never in total)

The Realm of pre-existence, the condition of the universe before its formation, equated
with the unknowable essence of God. Alam-e-Hahut has similarities to the Christian concept
of Deus absconditus, the Hindu notion of Nirguna Brahman and the Kabbalist idea of the En-
Sof. In the view of Ibn Arabi this is the dominion of the ‘’ayan thabita . The realm of God’s
Presence.

(ii)Alam-i-Lahut (Realm of Divinity) –Disclosure of His Names

The realm where incalculable unseen tiny dots emerge and expand to such large circles that
they engulf the entire universe. This Realm is also called the Circle of the Beatific Vision.
These countless circles are the bases of all the root causes of the universe. This whole circle
is known as the Ghaib-ul-ghaib (Unseen of the Unseen). Alam-e-Lahut has similarities to the
Christian concept of Deus revelatus, the Hindu notion of Saguna Brahman and the Kabbalist
idea of Kether. Sometimes Alam-i- Lahut is subsumed together with Alam-i-Jabarut (Realm
of Power) The stage when the universe is constituted into features, the realm of God’s
Majesty.

(iii)Alam-i-Malakut (Angelic Realm) –Disclosure of His Attributes

The stage when the characteristics of the species and their individuals descend from the
Realm of Omnipotency, separate consciousnesses comes into being. The realm of Angels
and pure soul.

(iv)Alam-i-Nasut (Realm of Humans) –Disclosure of His Actions as these became the Laws of
the Physical World

15
The stage when foundations of the tangible world of matter are laid. It includes the material
realm and all the normally visible cosmos. The realm of the physical Universe.

Some of the cosmological planes were derived from the Quran ,as an example The Throne
(in the realm of Jabarut) in surah al-A’raf (7) verse 54:

The earth and 7 heavens were mentioned in surah adh Dhariyat 51:48-49 , and An Nazi’at
79: 27-33, al Baqarah 2:25,29. The lowest heaven contained the planets ( as Saffat 37:4-6)
and the solar systems and galaxies are revolving about their positions ( al Fathir 35:41) and
the sun and moon being regular (punctual) in their motion ( ar Rahman 55:5) and the
heavens act as a roof (protection) for the earth , al Anbiya’ 21:32-33) as well as canopy ( al
Baqarah 2:21-22 , al Mukmin 40:19) .

It is interesting here to make a correspondence between the five degrees of tawhid or

maqamat as given by Suhrawardi Maqtul in his Safir –i-Simurgh ( Song of the Fabulous
Gryphon) and the Realms of Existence :

Realm of existence which would be grasped Degree of Tawhid

by the corresponding tawhid
Nasut Laila hailla Allah – there is no God except
Allah
Malakut Laila hailla huwa –there is no God except He
Jabarut Laila ha illa anta- there is no God except
Thee
Lahut Lailaha illa ana-there is no God except “I”
Hahut Wa kullu syay’in halikun illa wajhah –
everything perish except His Face

The Ishraqi’s differ from the mashsha’i in that the former considers the world to be actual in
its being and potential in its qualities and attributes, and the latter believes on the contrary
that the world is potential in its being and actual in its qualities and perfections. Suhrawardi
calls the absolute Reality the infinite and limitless Divine Essence , the Lights of lights (Nur al
–anwar) .The whole universe , the 18,000 worlds of light and darkness which Suhrawardi
mentions in his Bustan al-Qulub are degrees of irradiation and effusion of this Primordial
Light which shines everywhere while remaining immutable and forever the same.

The macrocosmos-microcosmos duality

Here we will compare the divisions of God’s dominion with that in man , the Lathaif (subtle
bodies). Many Sufis contributed to this understanding based on their own personal
experience so we have decided to follow Jurjani and Ruzbihan Baqli in this correspondence
:

16
Dominion Lathaif (subtle bodies) Selected sayings
Hahut Akhfa (most arcane) Ruzbihan Baqli: The
innermost consciousness
/akhfa is equivalent to the
Ultimate Unseen
Lahut Khafi (arcane) Jurjani : Khafi is the seat of
perception of the Manifest
Absolute
Jabarut Sirr (secret) Mansur al Hallaj : My sirr is
virgin and cannot be
revealed by imagination
Malakut Qalbi (kernel)
Nasut Nafs kulli jasad ( overall self)

The true history of six lathaif ( we showed only 5) began with the Kubrawi Sufi sheikh ,
Najamuddin Kubra founder of the Kubrawiyya tareqah. He associated colour (photism) with
the six lathaif and later his student Alaudin Semnani built intricate correspondence between
the lathaif and the various prophets. This was made more intricate by Ahmad Sirhindi
(founder of the Mujaddidiyya tareqah) who connect various stages of annihilation (fana’)
and effacement (baqa’) with the different lathaif through various means of zikr
(remembrance of Allah). Much later the famous Sufi Muhammad Ghawth connect these
lathaif with chakra system of Nath Yoga commonly found in India. So, the fact that Sir
William Jones (d.1794) and Sir John Malcolm (d.1833) advancing the thesis that Sufism came
from Hindu Yoga or Buddhism is totally wrong for Islam (and therefore Sufism) came to
India much later and students of Sufism knew that the first Indian Sufi was Muinuddin
Chishti who came from Baghdad ( much earlier than Muhammad Ghawth who adopted the
chakra yogic system).

It would not be appropriate without connecting the goal of Sufism with its cosmologies. The
Sufi undertand “innalillahi wainna ilahi rajiun” (irtija’) as “from Him we came and to Him
shall we return” to mean a cycle of descent (from alam uluwwy , highest dominion) to alam
safely (lowest dominion) and to return back (going up- taraqqi) by good deeds , by being
able to undergo fana’ (annihilation) and fana ‘ baqa’ billah (total effacement to Allah by
Allah ) so that every moment of life is a moment in His contemplation and Presence
(solahud daim – the permanent or continuous prayer) . Thus, an understanding of how we
descent (say via knowledge of the Seven Levels (Mertabat Tujoh, discussed below)) will
allow us a means to understanding or acaquire the knowledge of how we are to be in Allah’s
presence – after all that is what was meant by “as solat mikraj mukminin” ( Prayer is the
means to do mikraj (ascent) to Allah by a Mukmin). The way to ascension will be as follows:

Annihilation on His Actions -- annihilation on His attributes --- annihilation on His
Names -- annihilation on His Essence ( achieving fana’ baqa’billah or fana’ ul fana’).

17
This stages are described by Abu Bakar al-Wasiti as differentiating the common people or
beginner Sufi from the elect , as he wrote:

“He lets Himself be recognised by the common people through His attributes and His acts ;
and it is His words “ And in yourselves , will you not see (Q 51:21) . He lets Himself be
recognised by the elect through His Essence , thus His Words “ Do you not see your Lord ,
how He has stretched out the shadow ?” (Q 25:45). Al-Wasiti said “ His attributes and

In is not surprising that Abdullah Ansari (of Herat, d.1089) wrote in his Munajat “ Nothing
comes to You from anyone; nothing comes from You to anyone ; everything comes from
You to You, You are everything and that is all” (referring to God’s Essence) which basically
sums up Ibn Arabi metaphysical doctrine , written long before his birth. Claude Addas
beautifully conclude on Ibn Arabi’s cosmology in her book “ The Voyage of No Return” as
follows: “He affirms in the Fusus that the possible never smell the perfume of existence.
Manifested ad extra , the possible do not acquire existence ; as he insists they only acquire
the ability to be the places of manifestations (mazahir) of Real Being , to the extent of their
essential predisposition . According to his interpretation , cosmogenesis is rooted in God’s
desire to reveal Himself. “

Thus it is not far-fetched to say that cosmology is very closely related to faith (believing on
the Unseen which are described in the Quran and hadith) but more importantly to affirm
and execute the primordial promise which man made with his Creator when he is in the
realm of the Lahut as potraited in Quran verse 7:172 .

The relationship between theology and cosmology

Perhaps the relationship beween between theology and cosmology can be best shown by
the following catagorisation. Let each statements be denoted by capitals letters ( Kiswati ,
2002) :

A- To know the requirement to know God

B- To know God
C- To know God’s attributes
D- To know the good and bad according to human law
E- To know the good and bad according to syari’ah (Islamic law)
F- To know resurrection on the Day of Judgement
G- To know one’s good deeds towards God
H- To know the requirement to do good and avoid evil deed according to syari’ah
(Islamic law)

Theology By human mind (aqal) By Divine Revealation

Al -Juwayni B ,C,D ,F A ,E , G, H
Mu’tazilites B,C, D,E,G ,H none
18
 Maturidi (Samarqand school) B,C ,D,E, G D,E
Maturidi (Bukhara school) B,C, D,E G,H
Asha’arite B,C F,G,H

These categorisation led to differing cosmology which were later adopted by Sufi groups.
However , the majority of modern Sufis are Sunni and therefore followed the theology
developed by Asha’arite kalam . These categorisation led to the different levels of taklif
(duties towards Allah) in fulfilling the requirements of ubudiyyah (servants of Allah ).

Cosmology in the Malay World

It would not be satisfying if the impact in this part of South East Asia of Islamic Cosmology
previously discussed is not mentioned . We will not go into detail as A.H Johns, Van
Bruneissen , A. Reid , al-Attas and their students have discussed the major texts of Malay
cosmology written by works of Hamzah Fansuri , Shamsudin Sumatra, Abdul Rauf Singkel,
Nuruddin al Raniri, Abdul Samad al-Palembangi , Nafis al-Banjari , Daud al-Fatani and many
others . Here we would like to stress that al-Burhanpuri (of the Ibn Arabi school) impacted
the Malay world with the Seven Gradations ( Mertabat Tujoh) . Together with the doctrine
of Muhammadan Light (Nur Muhammad) it led great debates and turmoil during the times
of Iskandar Muda/Thani rule in Acheh with repercussions for almost a century. Similar
events (though some claimed it it be legendary and not historical) was the execution of
Sheikh Siti Jenar by the Council of Nine Saints of Java because of his strong belief and spread
of the Wihdatul Wujud doctrine due to misunderstanding of its doctrine. M. Nasrin Nasir
had written a thesis on Malay cosmology in the Haqq al Yaqin of Shamsuddin Sumatra
(d.1630) and A. Latif Samian studied Malay cosmology in a mathematics text of Alam al-
Hussab fi ilmi al-Hisab , a Minangkabau text , also from Sumatra. Here I will give a brief
account from Hj. Shaari bin Hj. Mohd Yusof , the grandson of the famous Malay sufi saint ,
Tok Kenali :

7 levels of Existence Description

Ahadiyah The realm of Allah’s Oneness – Allah is alone with Himself

La ta’yin – no existence
Wahdah The realm of Allah’s knowledge

Ta’yin awal – the first of existence – creation of the Light

of Muhammad
Wahdiyah Here , the “Kun” (Be !) of Allah occur – also known as the
realm of ‘ayan tsabitah.
Arwah The souls of human first come into existence
Mithal Also known as the realm of malakut (angelic realms)
where the souls can take effect
Ajsam The realm of living things or the Universe including
19
 unseen creations like Jinn and Syaitan. Allah gave some of
His attributes to this level of existence or living things
“borrowed “ some of His attributes for existence
Insan The human self and his many secrets

It must be stressed that the first Malay cosmology ever recorded came from the Aqaid
Nasafi (1590) the oldest known Malay manuscript according to Al-Attas. It was translated
from the work of ‘Umar Najm al-Din al-Nasafi ( d. 1152) and the Malay manuscript Taj Al
Salatin written by Bukhari al-Jauhari in 1623 also referred to it on cosmology and
astronomy. Other Malay cosmology based on Nur Muhammad (the Light of Muhammad)
can also be found in an Arabic text entitled Bahr al-Lahut by a Sufi saint Abdullah Al-Arif of
Acheh written sometimes in the 12th century and the earliest Malay translation was written
much later in 15th Century . There is a strong evidence among Sufi researchers that the 7
levels of Existence (Mertabat Tujoh) was an extension of the 5 levels of existence as
explicated in kitab Jawahir al-Khamsa of a Shattari saint , Muhammad Ghawth of Gwaliyor
(16th century) through the work of Muhammad Burhanpuri (d.1619) entitled Tuhfah al
Mursalah ala ruh an Nabi as this cosmology later received wide exppansions in the writings
of Hamzah Fansuri and Shamsuddin Sumatra both Sufi sheikh from Acheh.
Conclusions and the challenges with Modern Cosmology
There has been several verses of the Quran which modern researchers claimed to described
for example Blackholes (Quran 53:1, 56:75-76, 86:1-2 and several more) , and verse al
Anbiya’ 21:104 :

“And remember the Day when We shall roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books ,
as We began the first creation , We shall repeat it , (it is) a promise binding upon Us. Truly
we shall do it.”

seems to support Big Bang-Big Crunch model and most interesting , in early Universe it is
proven by quantum cosmologists that 2-dimensional gravity ( “ a scroll” ) worked ( Rinaldi ,
2012). A fairly ample discussion on Quranic cosmogony ( compared with modern findings)
was recently given by Hasan and Tuah (2014). In modern times, Islamic cosmology can offer
to lead (at least philosophically if not theoretically) recent cosmological findings like
ADS/CFT correspondence , approaches to quantum gravity , dark matter , pre-Big Bang etc
for meaningful directions and paradigms . This will certainly require more serious research
on the theoretical content of the various cosmologies proposed by Muslim philosophers and
Sufi theologians alike both on past recorded works (which has not been fully explored) as
well as new exegetes of the Quran and hadith .

References

Damiend Janos , 2012. Methods , Structure and Development in al-Farabi’s Cosmology, Brill
Academic Pub.

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Ahmet T.Karamustafa , 1992. Cosmographical diagrams . Ch3 in Cartography in the
Traditional Islamic and South Asian Sociedties , Edits. J.B Harley and D.Woorward , Univ. Of
Chicago Press.

A.Treiger, 2011. Al Ghazali’s Classification of the Sciences and descriptions of the Highest
theoretical science , Divan (2011/1)

Laury Silvers, 2010 . A Soaring Minaret – Abu Bakar Al-Wasiti and The Rise of Baghdadi
Sufism , State Universitu of New York Press.

M. Rinaldi , 2012. Aspects of quantum gravity in Cosmology , Modern Physics Letters A 27

(7) , 12300008-1 to 12300008-14.

Haslin Hasan and Ab. Hafiz Mat Tuah , 2014. Quranic cosmogony : Impact of contemporary
cosmology on the Interpretation of Quranic passages relating to the origin of the Universe,
Kyoto Bulletin of Islamic Area Studies 7, 124-140.

Syed Hossein Nasr and Mehdi Amin Razavi , 1996. The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in
Persia, Routledge Pub.

Tsuroya Kiswati, 2002. Al-Juwayni , The founder of Rational Theology in Islam (in Bahasa
Indonesia) , Erlangga Publication.

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